1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to the field of manufacturing information handling systems, and more particularly to a method and system for manufacturing information handling systems according to custom image orders.
2. Description of the Related Art
As the value and use of information continues to increase, individuals and businesses seek additional ways to process and store information. One option available to users is information handling systems. An information handling system generally processes, compiles, stores, and/or communicates information or data for business, personal, or other purposes thereby allowing users to take advantage of the value of the information. Because technology and information handling needs and requirements vary between different users or applications, information handling systems may also vary regarding what information is handled, how the information is handled, how much information is processed, stored, or communicated, and how quickly and efficiently the information may be processed, stored, or communicated. The variations in information handling systems allow for information handling systems to be general or configured for a specific user or specific use such as financial transaction processing, airline reservations, enterprise data storage, or global communications. In addition, information handling systems may include a variety of hardware and software components that may be configured to process, store, and communicate information and may include one or more computer systems, data storage systems, and networking systems.
The large variety of hardware and software configurations available for information handling systems often presents a logistical problem to businesses that use a large number of information handling systems. Information technology administrators often try to reduce the variety of information handling systems by standardizing as much as possible the hardware and software for a business or business unit's information handling systems. One way for information technology administrators to achieve standardization is to place large orders for custom manufactured information handling systems. Hardware standardization is generally realized by placing the order with a single manufacturer and specifying the components used to build the information handling systems. Software standardization is more difficult to realize since software applications often allow users to set up various options during installation. One way for information technology administrators to standardize software configurations is too install desired software onto an information handling system hard disk drive and then send the hard disk drive to the manufacturer to use the image on the hard disk drive for the manufacture of custom ordered information handling systems.
Although information handling system burn racks are able to load images onto manufactured information handling systems, custom images delivered on hard disk drives are not typically capable of direct transfer to a factory work flow process. Generally, custom images received on hard disk drives are manually validated and prepared for use in the factory work flow process. For instance, an engineer typically loads the custom image onto a test information handling system having the custom ordered hardware configuration to verify the validity of the custom image, such as the compatibility of the custom image with the hardware configuration. The manual verification process is time intensive and prone to errors. For instance, the engineer typically must build the test unit to the custom order specification, run tests on the unit to ensure proper operation of the test unit, and alter the software configuration in the event of any detected failures, a process that may take weeks. Errors in the building of the test information handling system, errors or incompleteness in the test verification process and errors in the alteration of the software configuration may delay custom order production or result in the shipment of inoperative units.